In many areas of interior design and furnishings, a customer is presented with a daunting array of products available from which to choose. Such products include carpeting, vinyl and wood floorings, wallcoverings, upholstery and drapery fabrics, paint, furniture styles, and decorating accessories such as paintings, prints, sculpture and statuettes, woven wallhangings, crafts, and needlework. In the area of picture framing, it is known to provide a customer with small sections of frame mouldings and matting of various textures and colors, and to select frame and matting combinations based on how they appear when held close to the artwork to be framed. Artwork may include prints, painting, needlework, photographs, documents, and any other object a person would desire to have framed. Framing products may include frame mouldings, matting and related materials such as fillets and decorative designs that may be applied to the matting, and any other items used in framing artwork. For most prints, paintings, and related matter, it is difficult to envision how the total finished product will appear especially if the frame and matting samples are relatively small or the artwork is large in size. It is also cumbersome for store personnel trying to help the customer by holding the artwork up with the small sections of frame and matting near one corner or edge, so the customer can stand back for a better perspective. A further drawback is the difficulty in seeing how various widths, layers, colors, textures, and other enhancements of matting appears next to the artwork and frame moulding.
The process of narrowing the field to preferred combinations can be very time consuming, and other customers may begin to feel neglected by store personnel who are completely occupied by one customer. A further difficulty occurs when a customer wants to compare many different combinations. Additionally, a vendor may run out of space to display all the many product samples that are available.
A further drawback to current practice is that some store personnel are more skilled than others in selecting or suggesting combinations of frame mouldings and matting materials based on their training, experience, and level of artistic and creative ability. Thus, with unskilled personnel, the selection process may be more time-consuming, or lead to less optimal results than desired. Additionally, a customer may have difficulty remembering the various combinations of materials presented or envisioning how the total finished product will appear.
In the field of image processing and storage, it is well known that digital representations of visual objects may require relatively large amounts of storage space, and manipulation of digital images often requires very high speed computer processing capabilities. Updating to systems with ever-increasing capabilities to handle image processing and storage requirements is commonly required. Additionally, computer software applications are usually developed to use computer resources as efficiently as possible, both for satisfactory system performance and to allow for future growth in software applications without the need to constantly update the associated computer hardware. Efficient methods for a given application are typically developed based on the hardware characteristics of the system.
Image processing and previewing systems are well known in various fields of the prior art, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,434,467 for calculating hair color; 4,546,434 for designing apparel; 4,149,246 for specifying custom garments; 5,195,030 for foot shape imaging and overlay; 5,343,386 for making electronically-produced postcards; and 5,432,904 for developing auto repair estimates. These devices, however, are substantially different in field of use, purpose, and construction and, accordingly, are not described in detail herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,395 issued to Abecassis for a wallcovering storage and retrieval system applies to the area of home furnishings. The system disclosed therein allows a user to input information relating to particular styles, patterns, motifs, and colors. The system then outputs one or more numbers referring to samples of wallcoverings and/or coordinating products such as borders, fabrics, and bed linens that meet the customer's criteria. The system does not have an image database associated with it and, therefore, the customer cannot view samples of the selected wallcoverings on a video monitor. Instead, a customer must physically go to a separate location within a store or warehouse to view each product. U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,392 issued to Malin applies to the field of interior design and discloses a system for designing an arrangement of office furniture pieces in which the designer selects a basic shape for the furniture from a library of predetermined shapes, adjusts the dimensions, creates groupings, and selects finish, color, and fabrics needed to complete the design. The system disclosed in Malin does not, however, have means to allow a designer to input his or her own elements and incorporate them into the design, such as fabrics, paintings, or other decorating accessories. The designer is limited to the library database provided by the product manufacturer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,956 issued to Donald et al. discloses a system for retail trading comprising means for storing images of items being traded, means for identifying, selecting, and retrieving the stored images, and means for displaying retrieved images either alone or combined with an image supplied by the user. The disclosure and claims associated with Donald et al. cover a wide range of items that can be traded including carpets, furniture, clothing, household textiles, homewares, and even motor vehicles. The system does not, however, teach an image processing system that includes means to combine various frame mouldings and matting with artwork or the like, or to vary the color, size, or number of openings in matting materials. It also does not disclose means for using image storage space and processing capability efficiently, such as by storing only one segment of a design having a repetitive pattern and piecing segments together based on the size of the object selected by the customer, nor does it disclose or even suggest a system that will analyze the customer's artwork and then search for and present images of frame mouldings and colored accent matting that coordinate with the artwork.